UPDATE 1-Japan Idemitsu sees July crude refining -26 pct y/y
* Idemitsu plans to refine 2.10 million kl of oil in July
* Repeats that it will delay restart of Hokkaido CDU
TOKYO, June 29 (Reuters) - Idemitsu Kosan Co (5019.T),
Japan's third-largest refiner, said on Monday it plans to refine
2.10 million kilolitres (426,000 barrels per day) of crude oil in
July, down 26 percent or 700,000 kl from a year earlier due to
slow domestic demand and low exports.
Idemitsu plans to refine 7.00 million kl (479,000 bpd) of crude in July-September, down 17 percent or 1.4 million kl from the same period a year ago.
Idemitsu repeated it would delay by a week the restart of a 140,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) currently undergoing scheduled maintenance at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan, to help balance domestic product supplies.
The company also said it was considering moving up the start of scheduled maintenance on its 160,000 bpd Aichi refinery in western Japan by 10 days to September for production adjustments.
Industry sources have said scheduled maintenance on the Aichi refinery was likely to be conducted from Oct. 1 to Nov. 23.
Idemitsu, which has four refineries in Japan, with total crude refining capacity of 640,000 bpd, estimated its April-June crude refining to total 6.60 million kl, down 17 percent or 1.3 million kl from the year before. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Joseph Radford)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved


